Holiday Festivities

Holidays can be a time of joy or a time of trial, depending on the family. Because everyone is gathered together for holidays, authors tend to use these times as a device to bring all the secrets into the open. That is exactly what happens in this film. Henry calls the family together for Christmas so that he can announce which son will be the heir to his throne.

The device works just as it should. As the family arrives, all their secrets are revealed - Richard's relationship with Philip, John and Geoffrey's plot, and Eleanor's conniving ways. The holiday festivities are the background on which the real story, the story of the family, takes place. We also see that when the family is publicly joining the festivities, they can all act as if life is wonderful and everyone is happy.